WXY reveals renderings of the city’s just-announced $136M fashion and film complex in Sunset Park

Last week, 6sqft took an in-depth look at how Sunset Park has become the new frontier for the city’s garment industry, thanks to “several industrial conversions [that] offer cheaper rents, better equipped real estate, and a creative, collaborative community.” Part of the city’s push to revitalize the fashion trade in the burgeoning Brooklyn nabe is a collaboration with its “Made in New York” marketing campaign, which has previously been geared towards promoting film and television productions and technology companies. They’ll also be investing $136 million to create the “Made in NYC Campus,” a renovation of two waterfront Bush Terminal structures that will provide affordable space for film, fashion, and virtual reality tech companies, as well as a new pedestrian-friendly plazas and streets. The city’s Economic Development Corporation has tapped WXY architecture + urban design to design the complex, and the firm has revealed a batch of renderings that showcase the project.

As the Mayor’s office explains in their own press release, these industries are an important investment. Film and TV production “is one of the fastest growing, high-wage sectors” in the city; last year there was a 13 percent increase in filming for episodic television and a 40 percent increase in feature films, which rose to 336. To accommodate the booming field, the Campus will have a new 100,000-square-foot film and television production facility that will offer high-ceiling sound stages and spaces for production, video and photo shoots, and Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies facilities.

There will also be 200,000 square feet of garment manufacturing space to house between 25 and 35 tenants. As 6sqft noted, “average starting rents for office space in the Garment District have increased 38 percent since 2013,” which makes this affordable space so vital, especially considering garment production makes up 30 percent of the city’s manufacturing jobs. The available “small white-box spaces” will range from 2,000 to 20,000 square feet, catering to patternmaking, marking and grading, cutting and sewing, and sample making.

In addition, the Campus will have shared services such as photography and educational support and a 7,500-square-foot Café Building.

According to the Mayor’s office, the Made in NYC Campus will create 1,500 permanent jobs and 800 construction jobs. It’s expected to open in 2020. The announcement comes on the heels of de Blasio’s $115 million commitment to the nearby Brooklyn Army Terminal, which will expand its manufacturing space by 500,000 square feet come the fall.

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• The city’s struggling garment industry finds a new home in Sunset Park
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• Sunset Park: How Creativity and Commerce are Transforming This Waterfront Neighborhood

Renderings via WXY architecture + urban design